A Guide to the Films, Food, and More at This Year’s SXSW

South by Southwest, the annual Austin-based festival for music, film, and beyond, can be a disorienting experience—a deluge of mixed media that sits smack at the intersection of art and commerce. One minute you’re listening to a rousing opening speech by Senator Cory Booker, the next, Bud Light is passing out free beers along with promises of yet another “interactive experience.”

Walking around Sixth Street or Congress Avenue, the festival’s capitalistic roots are immediately exposed—not that there’s anything wrong with that. Money moves everything around Austin, including speakers, artists, and influencers arriving in town en masse to present their latest creations and seek funding. To help keep track of everything that’s going down this weekend (and beyond)—from movies to comedy shows to a hidden BBQ establishment—here’s a shortlist to make sure you’ve got the best of the best.

FilmFrom the new Joe Swanberg joint (Win It All) to Edgar Wright’s latest romp (Baby Driver), SXSW is debuting some big, buzzy titles this year. It begins with the festival’s opening-night headliner, Song to Song, the latest from auteur Terrence Malick. Like his recent elliptical narratives, Knight of Cups and To the Wonder, the plot is as nebulous as ever. A colleague who caught the film at an early screening said, “If you enjoy Rooney Mara dancing in and out of rooms, you’ll like this movie.” Simply put? Mileage may vary.

Something a little more off the beaten track: Mr. Roosevelt, Noël Wells’s semiautobiographical directorial debut about a 20-something in Los Angeles who has to put her comedy career on hold when a loved one gets sick. Back in Austin for the weekend, Emily (played by Wells) is forced to confront her past; mainly, her ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend. As demonstrated throughout Master of None, Wells understands how to take real pain and turn it into real art—alive, vulnerable, intimate. Her first crack behind the camera looks to possess those same qualities.

Pre-Approved TitlesSince SXSW repackages and replays titles from other festivals (Sundance, Cannes, TIFF), it’s worth highlighting three of them: Lemon, Free Fire, and Person to Person. All are worth seeking out for varied reasons. They will screen throughout the festival.

InteractiveMost marketing at SXSW is aggressive, ever present, and ineffective. Companies of all variety spend a considerable amount of resources trying to grab someone’s attention, and what you find are campaigns that are mostly uninteresting and uncreative. But every once in a while, you stumble upon something like the “One Night & Casper Hotel.” From the 10th through the 14th, One Night and Casper are taking over the historic Austin Motel, and transforming it into an interactive experience. Each day, at 3:00 p.m., festivalgoers who have downloaded the One Night app will be able to (potentially) book a $99 room at the hotel. This room comes with the following: a Casper mattress (of course), a Tesla car and driver, which will act as your taxi; a bedtime story read to you by a “real-life” mom; and more. The whole experience sounds alternately incredible and uncomfortable. Who knows how it will play out?

ComedyNight Train With Wyatt Cenac is a weekly comedy show that happens in Brooklyn, but for those who don’t live in the Big Apple, SXSW has brought the program to Austin. Cenac—who you probably remember as a correspondent on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart—is not only an ace comic, but a venerable curator, too. Night Train is one of the premier stand-up showcases around the country. It’s a place for emerging talent and oddball veterans to exist in the same space. This weekend’s live show will include performances by Dulcé Sloan, John Hodgman, Janeane Garofalo, and more.

DrinkHidden one-day-only pop-up shops, bars, and beyond have a tendency to emerge throughout SXSW. And while most of these spots don’t announce their existence until the day of, Amazon Prime Video seems to be creating an interesting venue inspired by an underground World War II–era rebel radio station and pegged to season three of The Man in the High Castle. On the rooftop of Market & Tap, you’ll find the makeshift station with upscale themed cocktails; downstairs will be a photo booth and a shop with Amazon-related swag.

Food

Just on the outskirts of downtown resides Terry Black’s Barbecue, an Austin staple when it comes to good eats. While the likes of Anthony Bourdain and the movie Chef will urge you to wait in long lines for Franklin Barbecue, Terry Black’s is the true hidden gem in town. It’s also far more convenient. Minimal—if any—lines, fair prices, gracious service, and some of the best brisket this writer has ever consumed.